Saturday, April 30, 2011

The youngest son of Col. Moamar Qadafi, Saif al-Arab, was killed today in Tripoli by NATO bombs. There are also reports that a school for disabled children in Tripoli was badly damaged in a NATO air strike.

In other news, despite the regime’s bloody repression, another “Friday of Rage” unfolded yesterday in Syria. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets, and security forces fired into a crowd in the city of Deraa, killing fifteen people. Another nine were reported killed in Homs.

Thanks to AC, C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Gaia, Insubria, JP, Kitman, Mary Abdelmassih, McR, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Saturday is Poetry Day, and tonight’s selection is “Missing Dates”, by the 20th-century English poet and critic William Empson.

Empson is best known for Seven Types of Ambiguity, his acclaimed work on literary criticism which he published at the age of twenty-four. In his poetry he practiced what his criticism preached, adding layers of ambiguity to tease the reader with multiple possible meanings.

“Missing Dates” is a villanelle, in the traditional form with nineteen lines and the required double rhyme scheme. Empson extended the villanelle form and made it more interesting in “Aubade”, excerpts from which have been used as inscriptions in previous Gates of Vienna posts about Europe.

“Missing Dates” is an acquired taste, and definitely not for everyone. However, I’ve found that the older I get, the better I seem to understand it.

Missing Dates by William Empson

Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills.It is not the effort nor the failure tires.The waste remains, the waste remains and kills.

It is not your system or clear sight that millsDown small to the consequence a life requires;Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills.

They bled an old dog dry yet the exchange rillsOf young dog blood gave but a month's desires.The waste remains, the waste remains and kills.

It has often been noted that Muslims seem prone to project upon infidels those foibles and flaws which are all too common in Islam. Child sexual abuse, rape, plotting to kill Muslims, the murder of young women — all of these accusations and more are routinely flung at non-Muslims, and all of them are regular features of life in Islamic societies.

A case in point was yesterday’s demonstration by Muslims at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo. The demonstrators were protesting the alleged kidnapping and forcible incarceration of young Coptic women who had “voluntarily” converted to Islam. The demonstrators believed that the young women were being held against their will by the Copts.

I don’t have to tell you the irony of all this, given the widespread and well-documented practice by Egyptian Muslims of kidnapping teenage Christian girls, forcibly converting them, and then threatening their families into silence. Never has a case of projection been so clear.

Thousands of Muslim demonstrators gathered in front St. Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo, vowing not to leave until they know the whereabouts of Coptic women, especially Camilia Shehata ... who allegedly converted to Islam but are held against their will by the Coptic Orthodox Church in monasteries and churches. The sit-in was called for by the newly-founded Coalition for the Support of New Muslims.

At the time of the Muslim demonstrations, His Holiness Pope Shenouda III was not present in his residence within the grounds of the Cathedral. The head of security at the Cathedral closed the gates and it was reported that Christians have been asked not to come to the Cathedral to avoid altercations with the protesting Muslims.

The Cathedral was cordoned off by the military police and security forces. Cairo saw today three separate protests staged by Salafis against Pope Shenouda and the church, marching afterwards to the Coptic Cathedral in Abbasiya. The first demonstration was in front of El-Fatah mosque in Ramsis Square, the second in front of Al-Nour mosque Abbasiya Square, and the third came out of the Sharia Association mosque in Ramsis.

The protesters demanded the resolution of the “ten demands”, which they called for last Sunday, during their protest in front of the el-Kayed Ibrahim mosque in Alexandria, mainly the “trial of Pope Shenouda”, “ the release of Camilia Shehata and Wafaa Constantine” and “inspection of monasteries and churches to look for Muslim women held by the church.”

The Muslims chanted “Islamic, Islamic, against your will, Islamic” in front of the Cathedral and “They abducted Wafaa Constantine, By Allah we will not be silent” and “With our souls and blood, we will defend Islam.” They held banners and photos of the alleged Muslim converts who were allegedly abducted by the church, as well as banners calling for an Islamic State…

At the time of their afternoon prayers, thousands of Muslims prayed with the organizers, who asked the demonstrators to turn their backs to the Cathedral.

Islamic lawyer Mamdouh Ismail gave a speech in which he called for the realization of human rights and the rule of law, pointing out that this sit-in is not directed against the cathedral as a house of worship for Christians, whom he described as partners in the homeland. He also asked the Christians “to participate in the demonstrations demanding the appearance of Camelia.” In the same context, Khalid Al Harbi, director of the “Islamic Observatory against Proselytizing,” said “we will not go and we will not plead with anyone, but we will take our rights with our own hands.”

A difference of opinion emerged between the organizers of the protest about when to end the protest. Renowned Muslim Salafi leaders Dr. Yasser Borhamy, from Alexandria, sent a message to the protesters asking them to disperse, saying the reason behind the protest was to deliver a message and so that no sectarian strife should occur because of the Salafis, while others like Abu Yehia, who claims he was with Camelia when she converted to Islam, wanted to break into the Cathedral.

[…]

Islamic lawyer Ismail said after the sit-in was called off , that he has reached an agreement with the army to solve the issue of Camellia Shehata by bringing her out on one of the satellite channels to declare whether she converted to Islam or not , and in exchange the Salafis are to suspend until such time all their demonstrations and sit-ins.

A video of the demonstration described in the AINA article is below the jump. Many thanks to Assad Elepti for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

You never thought you’d hear a clarion call like that in public, did you?

And there are an awful lot of people who still don’t want to hear it, including quite a few who are otherwise on our side of the fence. They don’t want to see an increase in German national feeling, even if the only alternative is the Islamization of Germany.

It’s music to my ears, however: Germany, arise!

The video below shows an angry protest by a young German woman during a Salafist demonstration last week on the streets of Frankfurt. The original German version has gone viral on the internet, and some people are referring to the heroine of the piece as “the Ann Barnhardt of Germany”. When you watch the clip, you’ll see why — she confronts her countrymen with the same kind of high-spirited scorn for their lack of testicular fortitude.

When the mainstream media refer to the mass movement of peoples into Europe from North Africa and other Third World countries, they choose from a smorgasbord of words and phrases that are considered acceptable when describing such events. New arrivals may be referred to by one or more of the following terms:

1.

Refugees: This is the most commonly used descriptive for the culture-enrichers who arrive daily at Lampedusa from North Africa. It seems fitting, because the departure of the new arrivals was prompted by civil unrest, war, and revolution.

2.

Migrants who engage in migration: This may be the preferred term. It makes the arrivals sound like seasonal workers who simply move from place to place following the annual round of planting and harvesting. Alternatively, the “migration” of large groups of people can be likened to that of pastoral nomads who move around without paying much attention to national borders as they seek pasturage for their flocks. The Sami (Lapps) of Finland, Sweden, and Norway are the preferred exemplar for this process. They are often cited in multicultural literature, since they are quaint, picturesque, peaceful, and have no known predatory criminal tendencies.

3.

Immigrants: This is similar to “migrants”, although it does bear the connotation of permanent residence, which may make “xenophobic” readers somewhat uneasy. To soothe these atavistic sentiments, discussion of these latest “immigrants” is generally accompanied by a full course of multicultural indoctrination.

4.

Asylum seekers: For those who wish to take advantage of the EU’s human rights laws, this is the most useful term, since arrivals who are putatively seeking asylum gain preferential treatment and are much harder to deport than economic immigrants.

5.

Boat people: This term has a helpful positive resonance, evoking as it does the Vietnamese boat people of thirty-five years ago. The newcomers arrive in boats, and are fleeing war and oppression; thus they become essentially the same as the Vietnamese, regardless of cultural differences — or their far greater numbers.

And here’s one you’ll never read in the newspapers or hear on the TV:

6.

Invaders: Given their numbers, their aggressive behavior, and their manifest actions as a vanguard of occupation and colonization, this term would be the most accurate descriptor of the culture-enrichers pouring in from North Africa. It cannot be used in public, however: the tenets of Multiculturalism absolutely forbid it. In fact, most Westerners are unable even to think in such terms, so effective has been their politically correct indoctrination.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

As pointed out in my previous post in this series, Italy is permitted by its agreement with Tunisia to repatriate up to sixty “migrants” a day. Let’s take a look at some recent numbers and see how all this is working out.

(AGI) Palermo — A boat with 178 migrants from the sub-Saharan region was escorted by a GdF patrol boat into Lampedusa harbor.

The migrant group, reached offshore during the night, included nine women and two minors. This is the second landing at Lampedusa within few hours. Last evening, 77 Tunisians arrived from Sfax, after a 10-day stretch without illegal arrivals.

(AGI) Palermo — Another large vessel carrying about 300 immigrants has been rescued about 40 miles south of Lampedusa, where 178 refugees had arrived from Libya. There are about 300 people on the boat now assisted by Italian Coast Guard patrol boats. The exact number will only be known when the boat docks in the island’s harbour .

Friday, April 29, 2011

In the wake of the agreement between Italy and France, Italian warplanes have begun bombing Libya, as promised. Italy had previously stayed out of the Libyan war, but has agreed to take part in hopes of gaining French support for action to stop the migration crisis.

In other news, Libyan troops loyal to Col Muammar Khedaffi have reportedly crossed into Tunisia and shelled targets there after pursuing of fleeing rebel forces across the border.

Thanks to AC, C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, CSP, Fjordman, Gaia, heroyalwhyness, Insubria, Kitman, TV, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

As you may remember, a week ago today a jury in Dearborn, Michigan denied pastor Terry Jones the right to demonstrate against sharia in front of the Islamic Center of North America. Mr. Jones was briefly jailed for his trouble after refusing to pay a $1 “peace bond”.

He vowed to return to Dearborn in a week to demonstrate in front of City Hall, and he kept his word. This time he chose to protest in one of the city’s specially designated “free speech zones”. Counter-protesters across the street were unhappy with Mr. Jones’ exercise of his First Amendment rights, and broke through the barrier for a few moments in an attempt to accost the hated Koran-burner from Florida. Some of the “youths” threw bottles and shoes at the pastor, and several were arrested.

The Danish artist Kurt Westergaard is best known for his iconic “Turban Bomb” cartoon, one of the twelve images of Mohammed which were first published back in 2005 in the newspaper Jyllands-Posten. Several months after the original publication, the twelve cartoons, augmented by additional images which were not part of the twelve (and at least one of which did not even depict Mohammed), were used as a pretext by Muslim provocateurs to incite mass riots abroad. Danish and Norwegian embassies in the Middle East were torched, and a number of people were killed.

The cartoonists were blamed for the violence, of course, rather than the crazed zealots who instigated and committed it. Those are the new rules of multicultural dhimmitude: when Muslims get mad at us and kill people, it’s our fault — even if all we do is draw cartoons.

In the years since, Kurt Westergaard has neither retired from the scene nor avoided further controversy, despite death threats and at least one attempt on his life. He has made the freedom of speech his driving cause, using his own experience as a warning about what everyone in the West will face if we continue to surrender to Islam and its politically correct allies.

Mr. Westergaard has recently formed a joint venture with Erik Guldager and Hans Erling Jensen to establish a new foundation for the purpose of promoting free speech. Hans Erling tells the story:

In connection with the establishment of The Westergaard Foundation we will launch the Free Press 2011 campaign.

It is all about the idea of Freedom of Expression, as expressed historically and administrated today. The intention is to create a discussion about the freedom of expression we in the West know today, and how we see it developing in the future under globalization and all the new challenges that this provides.

The concept

“Free Speech 2011” can be used as teaching material or as a framework for seminars, and for discussion forums in organizations, businesses, and institutions. During the development there will be established on-line help with direct contact to experts, where relevant questions are answered with elaboration on the topic.

The development team is happy to receive suggestions, reflections, and of course all kinds of adjustments. We are convinced that the debate about freedom of expression must necessarily be a living process that should never stop, lest we may lose it!

The initial funding will be raised by sales of signed prints of a new drawing by Mr. Westergaard, entitled “Free Speech”:

THE HAGUE, 29/04/11 - Schools are putting teachers under pressure to keep silent if they receive death threats from pupils. Teachers are advised against going to the police and sometimes even offered hush-money, according to TV programme EenVandaag.

A teacher recounted on EenVandaag how the school management instructed her to give a higher mark to an aggresive pupil for fear he would turn to violence if he did not receive this. This pupil had at that time already made death threats to six teachers.

There was reason to assume that the pupil was dangerous because he was a friend of the Turkish boy who shot a teacher through the head in a school in The Hague in 2008. But instead of informing the police, the school management tried to please him.

Another teacher recounted how schools sometimes dismiss teachers when they go to the police to make a report against a violent pupil. One teacher even had to promise as a condition for her severance pay that she would never discuss the threats made against her with anyone. Another teacher, whose exam questions were stolen by a pupil, was advised by the school management to buy the questions back from the thief.

Forget the “Jasmine Revolution” and the “Arab Spring” — the article below is a reminder of what democracy in Egypt would really mean if it were ever fully implemented. From ANSAmed:

Egypt: Poll: Majority in Favour of Ending Peace With Israel

Jerusalem, April 27 — A recent opinion poll conducted in Egypt showed that 54% of the people who were interviewed are in favour of repealing the peace treaty with Israel, while only 36% were opposed.

The survey, conducted by an American research institute on a sample of 1,000 Egyptians (the margin of error is around 4%) indicates that 30 years after the signing of the peace treaty with Israel, it is still highly unpopular in broad segments of the Egyptian population, especially in the low income bracket.

A deep indifference to today’s royal wedding kept me from paying much attention to it until this morning. Since we don’t have a television, there were no breathless announcers to remind me over and over about its epochal importance.

Then, when I opened this morning’s news headlines, I discovered how really, really significant it is — with top billing in every news service and multiple articles about Kate Middleton’s dress splashed all over the place. The event has even earned a feature illustration today on Google’s main page.

Strangely enough, the vast bulk of the coverage seems to be American — I had to scroll far down the page before I found an actual British news article, although I assume there are plenty of them.

I’m as pleased as anyone that the legitimate line of succession for House of Hanover Windsor will now be assured. But really, do we need all this?

Not everyone in the UK has joined in the frenzy, however. Having noticed that certain large commercial enterprises are displaying a lack of interest in today’s historic occasion, our British correspondent JP filed this report:

Poor Show: Cold-shouldering the Royal Wedding?

by JP

At a time when independent shops, usually those at the posher end of the spectrum, are embracing the Royal Wedding with gleeful abandon (and, it must be admitted, hard-headed business sense, for which shop-keeper would pass up the opportunity to entice customers into their store with a new, eye-catching window-display?), High Street corporates such as Boots, WH Smiths, the banks remain puzzlingly void of celebration. Why this should be so is perhaps a mystery — is this another example of a risk-averse society where bean-counters at these enterprises have balanced profits against sentiment, and accordingly decided that display of untoward patriotism might be taken amiss by certain sectors of our culturally-enriched society? Or is it a more diffuse indifference, symptom of an ‘I can’t be bothered’ attitude, mistakenly projected onto their customers? Do those customers perhaps retain a deeper sense of affection for tradition and members of the Royal Family than the businesses themselves — quite happy to take their customers’ cash yet wary of sharing their passions?

Whatever the reason, or reasons, at a time when the UK is embroiled in various military campaigns as well as being involved in a life or death struggle with Islam, it seems curious that these businesses are not exactly standing shoulder to shoulder with the Royal Family, whose most prominent member, namely the Queen, is also head of the Armed Forces (see here: “The Queen as Sovereign is Head of the Armed Forces. She is also the wife, mother and grandmother of individuals either having served, or are currently serving, in the Armed Forces.” )

If Britain is a nation of shopkeepers, then some of its most well-known examples appear to have retreated into the limbo of no-man’s land without a leg to stand on. Poor show indeed.

Italy received a week’s respite — or, as AGI puts it, a “truce” — from the landing of North African refugees on the shores of Lampedusa. The “Camp of the Saints” scenario took a brief breather, but today the flood of cultural enrichment resumed:

(AGI) Lampedusa — 77 boat people landed on the island of Lampedusa this evening. The migrants, whose conditions are fairly good, said the boat sailed off the Tunisian city of Sfax. The boat breaks a truce which lasted over a week

There’s no suggestion of what caused the “truce” — whether the Tunisian government was somehow persuaded to prevent the boats from leaving, and somehow managed to succeed in doing so. But in any case, the flow has started again.

During the lull, the European migration crisis moved up to the diplomatic level, as Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and French President Nicolas Sarkozy met in a summit to discuss the tensions between the two countries over the Tunisian migrants and their persistent attempts to cross from Italy into France. Regular readers will remember that the Italians angered the French by issuing temporary residence visas to the newcomers, which would allow them to move freely through countries that are signatories to the Schengen Agreement. France, Germany, and most other EU countries objected to Italy’s actions. Schengen or no Schengen, they vowed not to allow any North African riff-raff into their countries, even if it meant reintroducing border controls.

Messrs. Sarkozy and Berlusconi now claim to have ironed out their differences and cut a deal. The Italians have agreed to help bomb the Libyans — which they had resisted up until now — and in return, the French have promised to look into reforming the Schengen Agreement. The French end of the deal sounds pretty vague — after all, the Italians will have to honor their end of the bargain very quickly, and start raining down ordnance on Libya. But any reform of Schengen must involve the entire EU, and could take years to achieve — assuming that major players such as Germany can be enticed into allowing any meaningful reform.

Rome, 26 April (AKI) — Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and French president Nicolas Sarkozy together called for a revision of the Schengen treaty which removes border controls among the 25 European members.

“We both believe that in exceptional circumstances there should be variations to the Schengen treaty on which we have decided to work together,” Berlusconi said, echoing comments by Sarkozy at a joint news conference after a summit in Rome.

Berlusconi and Sarkozy said they have signed a letter to be sent to European Commission, the EU’s executive body to propose changes to the treaty allowing individual states to temporarily suspend the free movement of people under certain circumstances.

[…]

“We want the Schengen treaty to live, but to live it has to be changed,” Sarkozy said.

And La Stampa has more about the “bombs-for-bombast” aspect of the deal, plus the business deals that went along with it:

Thursday, April 28, 2011

The White House has released what it says is a scan of President Obama’s “long form” birth certificate. However, some independent document analysts maintain that it is an obvious digital composite, put together using Photoshop or a similar application, and altered to make the data entered in the boxes apply to Mr. Obama.

In other news, in the wild, wonderful, wacky lunatic asylum formerly known as the United Kingdom, a pub singer on the Isle of Wight was arrested by police on suspicion of racially aggravated harassment after performing the disco song “Kung Fu Fighting”. His performance sparked a complaint from some Oriental passers-by.

Meanwhile, an animal rights group at the University of Illinois maintains that the word “pet” should no longer be used, but should be replaced by “animal companion”, so as to preserve the dignity of the relationship between humans and other species. When describing animals who are not our companions, the organization also wants to replace the word “wild” — which can have negative connotations — with “free-ranging”.

Thanks to AC, C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Kitman, Nilk, Srdja Trifkovic, Steen, Takuan Seiyo, TV, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

The third language in the Ann Barnhardt Rosetta Stone project is Hebrew.

We’ve run into another snag: since the previous installment in this series, Vlad’s regular YouTube channel has been deleted. He’s using his backup channel for these videos. There may be some earlier ones missing now — we’re not sure. But Vlad hopes to have crucial videos up on the other channel as soon as possible.

Below are Hebrew-subtitled versions of Ms. Barnhardt burning the Koran (the originals, with a transcript, are posted here). To avoid the “Blogger bug”, I’ve placed the videos below the jump, followed by the complete Hebrew transcripts.

Ole Jørgen Anfindsen is the editor of the website Honest Thinking and the author of the Norwegian book Selvmordsparadigmet (“The Suicide Paradigm”). Its main focus is on evolution and human biology vs. Multiculturalism and mass immigration.

Below are some excerpts from “The Suicidal Paradigm — A Conversation With Ole Jørgen Anfindsen” at The Brussels Journal:

OJA: While I do not see it as inevitable that the West will eventually commit suicide, it does appear to be a quite likely outcome of today’s processes. The currently ongoing destruction of our societies is possible because people either don’t care enough to speak out against our elites, and/or because they actually believe that we are merely going through some ‘adjustments’ on our way to the multicultural paradise. Our political Titanic can only be turned around if sufficient numbers of voters demand a change.

This appears unlikely to happen in the near future, and I suspect that part of the reason has to do with a certain level of decadence that has permeated the Western mindset. Exaggerating somewhat, people care more about wealth, status, and careers than about the future of their own children. As a matter of fact, we are not even producing sufficient numbers of children for there to be any future for us at all. Unless there is a change in attitude here, our societies are doomed, and deservedly so.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

I returned this evening from the wild mountainous hinterlands of Virginia, and was hoping to put up some actual posts before I collapsed into bed for a well-deserved forty winks. But I was defeated by the backlog of email — do y’all realize how much email you can send me in just two short days? It boggles the mind.

Anyway, I was able to collect a more or less normal news feed. The most important story is that after decades of internecine warfare, Hamas and Fatah have now reconciled, and have cut a deal to work together against the common Zionist enemy.

Also, check out the latest on Syria — the deadly repression there is continuing, but Sen. John McCain, among others, says that Syria is not like Libya, and the regime’s actions do not warrant NATO intervention.

Thanks to 4symbols, AC, C. Cantoni, Fjordman, heroyalwhyness, Kitman, Lurker from Tulsa, Takuan Seiyo, TV, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

John Work has this feature on the latest shut-down of Vlad Tepes’ You Tube account:

I’ve frequently featured or linked to the Vlad Tepes counter-jihad website here on my blog. I go to Vlad’s site because it is always a treasure-trove of information and videos about what’s really going on inside the World of Islam - items that you will never read or watch on Good Morning, America or on CNN’s nightly news.

Tonight I made my regular trip over there and found an announcement that YouTube has shut down Vlad’s video account, purportedly over a video copyright violation issue that is over six months old and, according to Vlad, should be moot.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The Baron is away and his News Parser is shut down. I never could’ve got it up and flying anyway.

Which reminds me of an incident many years ago, back when Da B was a freelance programmer and a Kelly Girl, along with being the stay-at-home mom. One of his computer customers lived in a small town not far from here; for him the Baron built a custom job payroll and bad check program, one that spit out dunning notices at prescribed times; as I recall it did everything but affix the stamps to the envelopes.

Sometimes I would drop by his customer’s house and pick up our son on the way home from work so they could continue the job with fewer interruptions. One day this client compared Da B’s work with him to the job his flying instructor performed. As he saw it, they both got the thing (computer or airplane) up and running and then he could pretend he was “flying” all by himself. He simply needed help on take offs and landings.

I understand that perfectly now.

Below is flotsam, jetsam, and some items gathered from aaaallll those emails awaiting their master’s return. Rest assured there is no order of importance in these bits o’ news. Think of it as Dymphna, free associating down the page.

As for the deeper meaning of the title of this post: I was feeling wicked and decided to grab the attention of the trolling mudfish by using “bare naked” in the title. Just feeling a little ornery cuz the B’s gone and in the interim no one comes galumping downstairs with a collection of “good” news he’s managed to find to soothe my savage breast…

Thus, let us all pray he makes it safely home. Without him here, those Gates would clang shut in a heartbeat. As they would for y’all, too. Hey, even the atheists ought to put in a petition on that score. Can’t hurt anything but your principles, right? I've got more than one bruised principle myself...as does any parent.

This first story is from Logan’s Warning. He’s like the Baron; looks the world in the face without flinching. I admire such tenacity of spirit:

Detroit Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron joined with a group of religious leaders in opposing a Florida pastor’s plan to hold an anti-Muslim rally during Holy Week.

Either the Archbishop needs a history lesson, or he is in the state of deep denial. As for the history lesson, I suggest he starts with the Islamic conquests of the Coptics, Persians, and the Hindu Kush. The “moral values” of Mohammad and Jesus were not even close. Mohammad was a liar, rapist, and terrorist. Is that the message of Jesus? BTW, there are a lot more than “a few” of us. The voices of [against? D]Islam are CLEARLY on the rise! We are doing the job you are afraid to do.

Logan has further takedowns of the other “cronies” as he so aptly names them - i.e., the police chief and the legal department of the municipality of Dearborn in the person of one assistant prosecutor.

In addition, there’s a video from one of the fellows arrested by Dearborn’s finest last year for the crime of public assembly in Dar-al-Islam Dearborn while acting Christian. Those young men who were passing out literature were making a point, one that the authorities chose to interpret sans Constitution.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Here’s one that Fjordman sent in. He another one of those stare-the-ugly-reality-down kinds of people. Not I. I’m more the hide-under-the-covers-with-a-flashlight-and-a-good-novel-&-candybar type of coward escapist.

The essay, at PJM, is by Barry Rubin and it meditates upon the fact that the US is turning into a rowdy Middle Eastern vassal state. (Can’t give you much of the original; PJ gets touchy. But it’s worth your time for sure). What starts Mr. Rubin to pondering is a question put to him by a friend who wants to know why, when moderates in the Arab world (wait, make that “moderates”, pls) are attacked - a verbal attack I think he means - they always “react defensively and apologetically, trying to prove that they also hold safely radical views”. Rubin starts off with this [emphases are mine]:

That’s the subtitle of a book review (behind a firewall for the moment) regarding the fateful decision by Islamic scholars to make intellectual curiosity among the faithful sure grounds for blasphemy, shunning and death.

The crucial decision to turn away from new information (or even old, Platonic philosophical information) was the force which drove Islam into the corner to sit with a dunce cap on its head. The book, The Closing of the Muslim Mind: How Intellectual Suicide Created the Modern Islamist Crisis gives you the history of this foreclosure (as Freud would've called it). Slouched there even now, fingers in his ears, the fiercely irrational believer maintains that reason has no place in reasoning, and there is no cause and effect. In other words, it’s whatever the current dunce claims that “Allah Sez”…even if Allah’s slave is hiding in a well and waiting for the right moment to End It Fer Everybody.

In the Product Review on the Amazon page (linked above), they have this handy summary:

The Closing of the Muslim Mind solves such puzzles as:

why the Arab world stands near the bottom of every measure of human development

why scientific inquiry is nearly dead in the Islamic world

why Spain translates more books in a single year than the entire Arab world has in the past thousand years

why some people in Saudi Arabia still refuse to believe man has been to the moon

As the reviewer, David Aikman notes:

but what use is reason in the face of the Iranian education ministry official who claims that the Tom and Jerry cartoons were concocted in the United States to improve the image of mice because, during the 1930s in Europe, Jews were called “dirty mice”?

What use reason indeed? Back in the 90s when I learned Iran didn’t let the printing press into the country until the mid 19th century - and Persians are supposed to be the smart ones - I knew they had a problem. Islam deliberately removes the faculty of reason. No surgery necessary, just endless indoctrination: loud, incessant, and beginning when children are young and malleable. Why develop something that won't ever be used?

The Closing of the Muslim Mind, or rather the review of the book, focuses on the decision that it would be “dangerous” to permit free inquiry. Indeed. Not only did science die at the hands of Islam but it also obliterated historical inquiry, literature, the arts, and music - all the beautiful furnishings of the human mind - and replaced them with submission to life in its nasty, brutish and short form.

Why would there be any inquiry beyond requisite bathroom rituals when rational endeavor is forbidden?

Stumbling onto that review reminded me that I’ve woefully neglected an important book review of my own, one I’ve been waiting to “feel better” enough to write an in-depth essay. Well, t’ hell wid it…I ain’t never gonna feel well enough to do that so you get my scrambled version instead. I hope it’s enough to entice you to buy the book.

Our advisor has mentioned many times the need for Counterjihad fiction. She says contrarian artists need to invade all the arts and present the minority point of view so that the public can judge for itself. This is a challenging idea, but then her strategies usually are. It’s also difficult to create good art when you have an explicit agenda. Sometimes it works, but usually after the fact - e.g., excellent World War II fiction couldn’t rise to the top until we’d had enough time to create an aesthetic distance.

In this war, we don’t have the luxury of waiting. We must go with the literature we have now, the fictional works being created out of an author’s need to share a grim and overwhelming reality. In that spirit, I present a “thriller” (the author’s classification, though "terrorist thriller" is closer to the mark).

What’s the au courant expression for a book you enjoyed? “It’s a good read”? (Before you send me an email about this usage, I already agree. Using verbs as nouns is gauche, but people persist if it works). The Martyr’s Prize is definitely in the “good read” class; the author was right when he said in his cover letter that one ought to read at least a couple of chapters. He promises the reader they’ll be hooked if they do. Yes, indeedy.

An earlier CBN News exclusive revealed the existence of an officially-approved Iranian video about the imminent arrival of the Twelfth Imam, also known as the Mahdi. “Twelvers” believe that the End of Days is about to arrive, and will begin with the appearance of the Mahdi.

The fact that the Iranian government believes in this eschatological framework is evidently not something the mullahs wanted the world to know, judging by their reaction.

Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for YouTubing this report by Erick Stakelbeck:

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

I’m going away to visit family for a couple of days. I’ll be back in the saddle here sometime on Wednesday evening.

I’ve left a casserole in the fridge, and a news feed queued up for tonight. If you get into the wine cellar, stay away from the Pouilly Fuissé — that’s for me only. Y’all can drink all of the Mad Dog you want.

Dymphna will be holding the fort in my absence, and you may hear from her from time to time.

As regular readers know, the Danish journalist and historian Lars Hedegaard was acquitted of “hate speech” back in January. His crime had been to make remarks about the propensity of Muslim men for committing rape within their families — not all that remarkable an assertion in our circles, but a punishable offense in Modern Multicultural Denmark.

The district prosecutor has decided to have another go, and the second trial of Lars Hedegaard begins tomorrow in Copenhagen. Below is a piece written for the occasion by the editor of Sappho.dk.

On April 26 my colleague, the Danish author and historian Lars Hedegaard, President of the Danish Free Press Society and The International Free Press Society, will be back in court accused of “racism” for comments he made during a conversation on the Islamic treatment of women.

Without his permission the entire conversation was electronically disseminated, which provided his detractors with the opportunity to denounce him to the police.

The district prosecutor for Copenhagen and Bornholm jumped at the chance to get this prominent free speech advocate convicted of “racism” under Denmark’s infamous “hate speech” article 266b of the penal code but suffered defeat when the case came before the lower court at Frederiksberg in January this year. The judge did not believe that Hedegaard’s comments had been made with the intent of public dissemination, which is what the prosecutor must prove in order to secure a conviction under article 266b.

Unhappy with this setback, the state prosecutor appealed to the Eastern Superior Court in Copenhagen, where the retrial is scheduled to start at 1 pm on April 26 before a panel of three judges.

The trial is expected to last no more than two hours, which would appear to leave little time to deal with the subject matter — the Islamic view on women and the treatment they have suffered throughout the ages.

However, truth has no place in cases brought under article 266b. All that matters is whether Hedegaard’s observations — or the observations he is claimed to have made — have caused Muslims to feel hurt. Consequently, the defendant is not allowed to present evidence or call witnesses who might confirm his contention that the Islamic treatment of women is incompatible with the norms of a civilised society.

Lars Hedegaard’s case is just one in a long line of similar heresy trials that have been conducted throughout Europe for decades. Among the most notorious are the prosecutions of Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff in Austria and Geert Wilders in Holland but there have been scores of similar cases that have received less public attention.

The reason for this judicial tsunami against outspoken Islam critics is not hard to find. It has become uncomfortably clear to ever-wider sections of the public that the official policies of free Muslim immigration, multiculturalism and cultural relativism have failed utterly. The European states are now faced with problems which their rulers have no idea how to solve. So instead of admitting that they have failed, they choose to silence those who point out that there are problems.

As Lars Hedegaard is prevented from talking about the real issue in court, he has used the time since his initial acquittal to write a book. Its title is Muhammad’s Girls: Violence, Murder and Rape in the House of Islam and it will be published the very day he is to appear in Superior Court.

Sappho has obtained permission from the publisher, The Free Speech Library, to translate and reprint Lars Hedegaard’s Foreword.

Foreword

On January 24, 2011 I had the experience — for the first time in my life — of sitting in the dock of a Danish courtroom. The State Prosecutor for Copenhagen and Bornholm had resolved that I had violated Article 266b of the penal code by publicly threatening, ridiculing and denigrating a group of people.

During last week’s uproar in Dearborn, a Terry Jones supporter gave a brief press conference, and was subjected to the usual abuse at the hands of local Muslims and (presumably) their leftist allies.

Notice that the Jones supporter speaks calmly, reasonably, and politely, while his detractors scream invective at him and drown him out. This is what Andrew Klavan calls the “SHUT UP!” principle, as Vlad points out in the second half of this video.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Most of our tipsters are away on Easter break, so once again the news feed is unusually light.

The Syrian government is continuing its violent suppression of popular dissent. Police fired into a crowd in the Mediterranean town of Jabla, killing at least nine people. Over a hundred people were killed by security forces on Friday, and then another twelve people were killed yesterday at a funeral for people killed on Friday.

In other news, the FBI has identified the suspect in the attempted Colorado mall bombing. He is Earl Albert Moore, a 65-year-old convicted felon who was recently released from prison.

Thanks to Fjordman, Gaia, KGS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Some 30,000 North African culture-enrichers have arrived in various Italian ports since the refugee crisis began in January. Facilities near the points of landing — which are usually small islands such as Lampedusa — are rapidly overwhelmed, and the Italian authorities evacuate the migrants as quickly as possible to larger camps on Sicily or the Italian mainland.

One of the facilities used for this purpose has been the Kinisia shelter in Trapani, a province of Sicily. The following article describes the camp’s conversion from a “shelter” to a “migration facility” — which I assume means it will become a more permanent residence for enrichers whose immigration status is being evaluated:

Trapani Shelter Facilities Convert to Holding Centres

(AGI) Trapani - Authorities are to replace the current shelter facility in Trapani’s Kinisia district with immigration facilities. The site has to date been used to shelter as many as 700 Tunisian migrants.

A temporary shelter at an air force facility in Cagliare on Sardinia is being emptied of its inhabitants. These enrichers have been granted travel documents, which are presumably the same permits that have so aggravated France, Austria, Germany, and other EU member states:

Ezra Levant, as you may recall, was dragged through a lengthy “trial” before the Alberta Human Rights Commission for the crime of publishing the Danish Motoons in Maclean’s Western Standard magazine. He eventually beat the rap, but not before spending an inordinate amount of money in legal fees.

Mr. Levant is prominently feature on SUN TV, a new TV channel in Toronto, and plans to use his new platform to speak out on behalf of freedom of expression and against the growing movement to suppress politically incorrect speech in Canada and elsewhere.

Happy Easter, everyone! I just got in from church, so it will take me a little while to get back up to speed.

Easter is very late this year, only one day earlier than the latest possible date. As a result, the flowers on the altar included azalea, scotch broom, bluebells, and dogwood — an unusual combination for an Easter arrangement, where daffodils are generally to be expected.

On the way home I saw irises blooming — irises! At Easter! — and the azaleas are in full bloom here at Schloss Bodissey, as you can see from the photo above.

It’s very hot, too: 90°F (32°C). Two days ago it was wintry, almost cold enough to snow.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

A series of riots began a an asylum-seekers’ detention center in Australia after several inmates climbed to the roof of one of the barracks in protest. The aggrieved migrants were angry because their asylum applications had been rejected, and additional inmates soon joined them on the roof in solidarity. Other culture enrichers rioted and set fire to buildings.

The police refused to supply food to the protesters on the roof, drawing criticism from immigrants’ rights groups, who plan a protest in front of the center. Only three inmates remain on the roof, and they say they want to come down.

In other news, Thilo Sarrazin, the outspoken author and critic of German immigration policies, will not be expelled from the Social Democrats. By agreeing never to violate SD Party policies again in his public utterances, he was allowed to stay in the party.

Thanks to AC, DM, Fjordman, Gaia, heroyalwhyness, Jerry Gordon, JP, Nilk, RE, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Well, think again, fellows: we already are like Europe. You’re late to the game — it’s already underway here.

Five years ago I said we were roughly a decade behind Europe, and we were. But then we elected Barack Hussein Obama as our Dhimmi-in-Chief, and after that we caught up very quickly. We’ve all but closed the gap between United Socialist America and the EUSSR, and Mr. Obama is working very hard to finish the job, and maybe even pull ahead of the EUniks.

Take for example what happened yesterday to Florida pastor Terry Jones, who went to trial and was even jailed briefly because he wanted to hold a protest outside a mosque in a suburb of Detroit. Not only was he denied his First Amendment rights by a Dearborn jury, but as part of the court decision against him yesterday, Rev. Jones was prohibited for three years from setting foot on the property of the mosque or adjacent areas.

Mr. Jones has never broken the law. He has never been violent nor threatened violence. However, because what he says makes other people threaten to kill him, his right to free speech — as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution — has been denied. And because violent idiots may confront him if he exercises his right to free speech, he has been denied his Constitutional right to peaceably assemble.

This is the equivalent of what is known as an “ASBO” in the UK — an Anti-Social Behaviour Order. ASBOs have been used repeatedly against members of the English Defence League to restrict their activities and keep them from participating in demonstrations.

In Britain, however, there is no formal written constitution that forbids the government from engaging in such tyrannical behavior. The British Constitution is customary rather than formal, and the customs of the state have changed radically over the last fifty years. What is happening now in Britain is brutal and illiberal, but there is no single document to which the average law-abiding Britain can point to and say, “According to this, my rights have been violated.”

So, in a way, our situation is worse, because the highest law in the land — the United States Constitution — forbids the states and the federal government from doing exactly what was done yesterday to Terry Jones.

His case may make its way all the way to the Supreme Court, but I wouldn’t count on five justices upholding his right to speak freely. One of the justices is, after all, on record as saying that he’s not certain the First Amendment protects Koran-burning. Since the Constitution means whatever five Supreme Court justices say it means, we are at most a single Obama appointment away from the formal encoding of sharia in the Constitution.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Unfortunately for the American Left, progress — and I use the word “progress” advisedly — towards its extra-constitutional goals has been slow and intermittent. The suppression of Terry Jones has gone fairly well, but the same is not true of all American dissidents. Some of them utter right-wing words and commit non-progressive deeds, and get away scot-free.

Take, for example Derek Fenton, a New Jersey Transit worker who was fired last year for burning pages of a Koran on 9/11 at Ground Zero. Mr. Fenton has now been reinstated in his job. It took the help of the ACLU and seven months in court, but his right to do what he did has finally been acknowledged.

It’s obvious that Obama administration and its comrades in the trans-national Marxist community would like to speed up the transformation of America. Part of their impatience manifests itself as concern for the persistence and increase of hatred, bigotry, and “Islamophobia” in the USA, and now they’ve invited over some British socialists to give them some professional advice on how to handle restive freedom-loving troublemakers and bring on the socialist millennium.

The growth of Islamophobia and rising hate-rhetoric aimed at ethnic minorities and immigrant communities has become a significant feature of right-wing politics in both Europe and North America. This new politics of hate and fear represents a concerted political strategy on the part of a new right, one which presents a significant challenge to those wishing to create prosperous, tolerant and diverse societies. It cannot remain unchecked.

The Center for American Progress, in co-operation with Searchlight, will host a transatlantic conversation on the rise of identity politics and its consequences for the future of progressive politics. Bringing together leading analysts and activists from either side of the Atlantic to discuss how best to approach the rise of nationalist groups, the conversation will evaluate why Islamophobia and hate-rhetoric are on the rise in the U.S. and the UK, and the panel will share lessons from their own experiences on the most successful tactics for combating the politics of hate and fear.

Our British readers’ ears have already pricked up at the mention of “Searchlight”, and yes, you are right: the upcoming extravaganza will be a real progressive kulturfest of the Left, European style. The invitation says:

Pastor Terry Jones held a press conference on Thursday April 21, the day before his trial in Dearborn. A group of culture-enrichers gathered at the back of the crowd and heckled him loudly all the way through the proceedings.

All the shouting and screeching makes it difficult to hear anything properly in this video. To help our readers, Vlad Tepes has subtitled certain remarks and questions. At the end of the clip Vlad provides answers for a few of the questions that were bellowed by the Muslims at Terry Jones:

The noted blogger Fjordman is filing this report via Gates of Vienna.For a complete Fjordman blogography, see The Fjordman Files. There is also a multi-index listing here.

Christmas is a festival celebrating the birth of Jesus, but many of our current practices, such as giving Christmas presents, are of a relatively recent date. Although a specifically Christian celebration, like many other European ideas it has been adopted in other parts of the world as a kind of secular holiday, somewhat to the dismay of devout Christians. Even non-Christian countries like Japan have adopted certain of its traditions, for instance Santa Claus, gift-giving, decorations and Christmas trees. The same is true of China, Thailand and other places where Christians are a minority. It also contains traces of pre-Christian practices in Europe.

Pagan Scandinavians in late December, around the time of the winter solstice, celebrated a festival called Yule. Present-day Scandinavians still call the Christmas season jul. The Christmas tree, an evergreen tree decorated with lights (originally candles) and ornaments, may also partly have older, pre-Christian roots. While its history is not entirely clear, the custom may possibly be traced back to the Baltic region, one of the last areas in Europe to be Christianized, to late medieval Estonia and Latvia and then to northern Germany from the sixteenth century on. The first use of candles on such trees is recorded in the early 1600s. The custom of creating Christmas trees remained confined to the upper Rhineland for generations, before it spread beyond the Protestant regions of Germany to the rest of Europe and the world.

In the Celtic religion, trees were seen as sacred objects, and the oak tree enjoyed a particular prominence. The name “druid,” referring to members of the learned class of priests among the Celts, originally meant “oak-knower.” The oak was the sacred tree of Zeus in ancient Greece. It was also often associated with the world tree in Slavic mythology while Yggdrasil, the huge world tree supporting the universe in Norse mythology, is usually identified as an ash tree. In the Völuspá, Ask was the first human man and Embla the first human woman, created by the gods from tree trunks. The meaning of Embla is uncertain, but Ask clearly means “ash tree.”

Professor Mary W. Helms reflects on the cultural significance of certain materials. The seagoing Dover Bronze Age Boat from England in the sixteenth century BC, for instance, was primarily constructed from oak and yew. Obviously, there are practical issues to consider such as the material properties of durability, elastic strength and resistance to rot (oak wood has great strength), but it is worth recalling that both the oak and the yew were widely recognized as cosmologically special species of trees, even sacred trees, in ancient European lore.

The common yew — Taxus baccata — grows across much of the European continent. Ironically, it was simultaneously related to death (its leaves and seeds are toxic to humans and to livestock, though not to game) and to immortality since it is a very long-lived evergreen. Incredibly, the Llangernyw Yew, which grows in a churchyard in Llangernyw village in northern Wales, is thought to be more than four thousand years old, making it one of the world’s oldest living organisms. As for the oak, in the modern world it is often associated with the construction of fine furniture or the production of alcoholic beverages, for instance oak barrels for maturing wine, whiskey or cognac. In Celtic and Germanic cultures, that mighty tree was recognized as a cosmic axis mundi linking people with the sky and the gods:

Such an august association was probably very ancient. For example, Bronze Age northern Europe often utilised the oak as a coffin. Harding comments on the symbolic significance of such an interment, relating the oak tree-trunk coffin to house construction (also predominantly of oak in temperate Europe) and noting the relationship between houses and tombs both in Neolithic and Bronze Age contexts. He mentions, too, the ancient and long-lasting association of yews with graveyards (and churchyards) and the general connection of trees like ash, oak, and yew with longevity or eternal life; burial within a tree carrying the obvious connotation of a return to the source of life.

Like Christmas, Easter consists of a mix of Christian and older, pagan symbols such as spring fertility rites. Many European languages use variations over the name of the Jewish festival Passover, called Pesach in Hebrew. In Italian, it’s Pasqua; in French, Pâques; in Spanish, Pascua; in Scandinavian languages Påsk or Påske; in Dutch, Pasen; and in Russian, Paskha, borrowed from the Greek via Old Church Slavonic. However, in German it’s called Ostern. The English Easter probably stems from Eostre, a Germanic goddess of spring and fertility.

Friday, April 22, 2011

The news feed is light tonight because our Italian tipsters seem to have started their Easter holiday on Good Friday.

The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood has alarmed various secular groups who thought it was their ally, by calling for the implementation of full sharia in Egypt.

In other news, four people were shot in street violence in the Swedish city of Gothenburg. There’s no word yet on the ethnicity of the shooters or the victims, but Gothenburg is a notorious nest of intensive cultural enrichment.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

The political sensation of the moment in Austria concerns the appointment of a very young man — younger than the future Baron, so an infant from my point of view — to the important position of assistant to the new interior minister.

Our Austrian correspondent Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff has compiled a report on all the controversy. The political context can appear confusing, so here’s a preliminary listing of the dramatis personae:

SPÖ (Socialist Party of Austria): Typical European Social Democrats. Currently on the wane.

FPÖ (Freedom Party of Austria): Right-wing, opposed to mass immigration. Currently on the rise.

BZÖ (Alliance for the Future of Austria): Right-wing, also anti-immigration. Founded by Jorg Haider.

Die Grünen: The Greens. Not really a player, but thrown in for completeness’ sake.

Shakeup in the ÖVPby ESW

Major happenings in Austria. I was initially speechless, but… read on.

Ten days ago Josef Pröll (43), the vice-chancellor, minister of finance and ÖVP party leader, was forced to retire from his post for reasons of health. The result was a new ÖVP leader, current foreign minister Michael Spindelegger, who decided on a major ÖVP cabinet reshuffle.

Interior minister Maria Fekter, an integration hardliner, will take over the ministry of finance, and Johanna Mikl-Leitner will become the new interior minister. She is said to be as tough as Fekter. The big scandal, however, is the state secretary to support Mikl-Leitner: 24-year-old Sebastian Kurz, a law student (a former student of mine), whose role will be to act as the liberal watchdog to soften Mikl-Leitner’s positions.

The online forums are awash with outrage regarding Kurz: He is too young, has not finished his education, and has no idea about integration matters. 99.9% of all commenters in the forums are highly negative regarding ÖVP, look forward to voting for the FPÖ, and some even say they are sad that they voted for ÖVP in previous elections.

ÖVP currently hovers around 20% in polls, while FPÖ is at 26%, SPÖ at 27%.

I know Sebastian personally. He is a hard-working young man.

What I find despicable is not that he took on the post, but rather that Mr. Spindelegger hands an important political post to a 24-year-old without any experience. How can someone believe that a young man, actually a child, can solve problems which include culture-enrichers and Islam? It is simply baffling. I feel sorry for Sebastian. And I am angry at Mr. Spindelegger.

I cannot wait for the next election results. They will be disastrous for ÖVP. They deserve no less.

In addition, critics, myself included, contend that the post of state secretary — in effect secretary to the minister — pays a whopping €14,000 per month with a full cabinet, a chauffeur, and other perks. This is simply too high a salary for a political apprentice with no higher education.

Kurz’ supporters say “Give him a chance.” I say that this salary is way too high to “give him a chance”. This is, after all, taxpayers’ money. What a slap in the face for those hard-working people, the few that are left in the squeezed middle class.

A Dearborn jury just sided with prosecutors, ruling that Terry Jones and Wayne Sapp would breach the peace if they rallied at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn.

Judge Mark Somers will now determine the conditions of Terry Jones’ bond. Pastor Jones is sitting quietly after the jury’s decision, his head tilted down a bit, staring at the table.

The development comes after the jury deliberated for several hours. Watch Freep.com for the verdict.

In closing arguments, Wayne County assistant prosecutor Robert Moran said the pastors would disturb the peace if they were allowed to protest today at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn.

Jones and Sapp argued their right is protected under the First Amendment. “That’s what made America great,” said Sapp. “We’re entitled to our opinion.”

‘We’ll do it today at 5 or we’ll come back next week’ Earlier, after an intense debate in court this morning over free speech and religion, Pastor Terry Jones said that he’s not backing down from his plans to protest at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn.

Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad testified today that there have been at least four serious threats made against Jones from metro Detroiters, arguing that his protest could lead to violence if allowed.

But Jones told the Free Press during his lunch break: “We’ll do it today at 5 or we’ll come back next week.”

Speaking at a McDonald’s restaurant down the street from the courthouse, Jones -- who’s defending himself -- said he thought the proceedings are going well. And he said the government’s case was weak.

As he spoke, someone drove down Michigan Avenue yelling “Get out of Dearborn, you terrorist!”

Pastor Terry Jones is in court today in Detroit fighting the city’s refusal to grant him a permit for his demonstration unless he posts a “peace bond” of $100,000. As of this writing, the afternoon court session has begun, with no decision yet announced.

Rev. Jones vows to demonstrate outside the Islamic Center no matter what, even if it means going to jail. In the first video below, you’ll notice that he underlines the importance under the First Amendment of “unpopular speech” — that is, speech isn’t free unless one can say what others do not want to hear.

Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for YouTubing these videos. I’ve placed them below the jump to avoid the Blogger bug:

Fjordman’s latest book review has been published at Tundra Tabloids. Some excerpts are below:

The Human Web: A Bird’s-Eye View of World History from 2003 is an attempt by Robert McNeill and William H. McNeill, a father-and-son team of historians, to outline the major trends of human societies from Paleolithic times until the dawn of the twenty-first century.

Just out of curiosity, I searched for the word “jihad” in the index of The Human Web and found a single reference to it. Arab Muslims had laid siege to Constantinople in AD 674-678 but failed to take the city. They tried again in 717-718, but once more the Byzantines, assisted by Bulgars, managed to repel them. On both occasions they were crucially aided by so-called Greek fire, a mysterious, but highly effective flammable substance possibly similar to modern napalm that was successfully employed to set ablaze the attacking Muslim fleet. They lost several important provinces, but had managed to salvage Constantinople for the time being.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

In Dearborn, Michigan today, 700 people joined hands around the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn in solidarity against pastor Terry Jones’ planned demonstration at the mosque tomorrow. The protesters were an ecumenical group, with several Christian denominations joining their Muslim brethren in a gesture of interfaith understanding.

In other news, a signed article in an official Iranian newspaper reportedly asks Iranians in Europe or the USA to track down Saudis living abroad and kill them, in the name of the Islamic revolution.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has promised $25 million in non-military aid to the Libyan mujahideen rebels.

Thanks to AC, C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Gaia, Insubria, JD, JP, RE, TB, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Despite the agreement between Tunisia and Italy to keep the refugees at home, despite the plans for joint French-Italian patrols in the Mediterranean, the boatloads of cultural enrichment keep arriving in Italy.

Two of the most recent arrivals are interesting, because they landed directly on the Italian mainland, without transiting through Sicily, Lampedusa, or any of the other islands between Tunisia and Italy. The first article concerns a landing at Crotone, on the toe of the Italian boot:

Boat With 20 People Rescued at Crotone

(AGI) Crotone — Italian Police Forces report that a a 14 mt long- boat with possibly 20 immigrants has been seen at about 20 miles off the Ionian coasts of Crotone, the local harbour office has activated rescue procedures. The Squadra Mobile, Italian special police forces are also participating to catch and eventually arrest the boat capitan. The boat’s port of departure is still unknown.

The origin of the first boat was unknown, but the second — which landed on the east coast of the Italian heel — came from Albania. Judging by the cosmopolitan nature of the passenger list, with all those Asian nationalities, it seems unlikely that North African people-smugglers were involved: